


In What Universe?

by Inwhatuniverse (katvoira)



Series: The Bridge, or I Can't Believe It's Not Stargate [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, I can't believe it's not Stargate, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 15:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14751593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katvoira/pseuds/Inwhatuniverse
Summary: When a man interrupts you on your lunch break, claiming to be your husband from another dimension or something, what's a girl to do?The more Kari learns about this other place, where her - doppelganger? counterpart? - seems to have made all the right decisions instead of Kari's wrong ones, the more she wants to see it for herself.





	In What Universe?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a new thing I'm trying, as usually my drafts stay locked up on my hard drive, never to see the light of day. I'm here for feedback, and also because this story was never going to fit with a traditional format.
> 
> Please let me know what you think!

_How do you go about getting someone psychiatric help?_ Kari wondered, as the man in front of her clearly needed it.

“I’m telling you,” he said, waving his hands around, “we’re married!”

It wasn’t as though her day so far had been especially terrible, or out of the ordinary at all – her morning at work had gone well, her lunch hadn’t been stolen by an enterprising squirrel (a fairly common occurrence in this particular park, especially if you had something sweet), and it wasn’t likely that she’d have to stay late formatting a spreadsheet or something.

This, though, could well be an omen. What kind of person walks up to a complete stranger as though they’re in a relationship? This wasn’t the kind of situation where you’re grateful for a stranger’s intervention, like being hit on in a bar or trying to get away from those people who stand in the street asking for donations or your eternal soul. She couldn’t figure out where he was from, either – his accent was subtly _off_ in some way, but not so different that he sounded like he wasn’t British.

It didn’t help that he was tall, and well-dressed, and attractive. He also didn’t rant and rave, explaining in an overly-patient tone whenever she slipped up and asked a question. His insistence that she was his wife, and that they had a child together, was as sincere as it was impossible. Of all things, Kari was certain she’d know if she’d had a baby!

His story hung together, not slick but consistent, and it was worrying her. A lot. If any of what he believed was true, there was something badly wrong; either with her or with him, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know which.

“In what universe,” Kari shot back, “does someone like you end up with someone like me?” She gestured angrily at his well-tailored, if oddly cut, clothes, and her own cheap polyester blouse and slacks.

That gave him pause. She could practically see the gears turning in his head while he considered something. She was all set to walk away, back to work for the afternoon, when he snapped back to reality.

“Not this one,” he croaked. “Not in this one.” He looked like he’d been hit in the gut, and Kari wondered for a second if he’d claim there was some invisible attacker.

“Are you alright?” She asked. Just because he was crazy didn’t mean she had to be _mean_.

“I didn’t dream coming here,” he said. “I really _did_ walk into another world.” He reached for her hand again, but she snatched it back before he could touch her – he’d been doing that since the moment he’d run up to her and greeted the woman he thought was his wife. “Please,” he said, “let me show you the place.”a

The place, Kari determined after a hasty phone call to work about a family emergency, was about halfway up a hill outside town, and it contained a …hole. In the air. She could see in it, a swirling mass of colours that hurt her eyes despite being dim. She could also see the wafer-thin edge of the hole from the side, and a surprising patch of _nothing_ from the back.

She didn’t feel quite so sceptical now, she mused, trying to focus on the part of the hole where the air stopped and the swirling colours began.

“You came through this?” She asked Martan, finally looking away from the thing that shouldn’t be there.

“Yes,” he said, eyes widening as something occurred to him. Kari wondered how she was going to be able to keep up with the speed of his thought process. “I came through last night. Rina will be so worried!”

“Your wife.” Kari still didn’t accept everything he’d said – though finding the hole in the air he’d come through had gone a long way towards convincing her – but she definitely believed he had a family waiting for him at home, wherever that was. He was fidgeting now, peering in at the – void? Was that what he’d called it? – and muttering to himself.

“Tell me exactly what you did to get here,” Kari said. “Maybe we can just reverse it and get you home.” He didn’t look hopeful, a brow raised her way. “What?” She asked. “I know I’m not exactly technical, but that’s a logical way to go about it.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Logic is nothing more than a way to go wrong with confidence,” he said with a sigh, like he was tired of explaining that.

“What’s your proposed course of action, then?” She demanded. “Isn’t that your goal? Get home?”

“I spent _days_ studying the Rift, using all the instrumentation available to me, before I put one toe inside the Void.” He bit each word off, so maybe she’d finally broken him. Whoops. “I went in with a backpack which fell to bits almost immediately, and while my clothes appear to be fine, my boots came apart as soon as I crossed into here.” He raised an arm to indicate the exact spot he’d emerged from.

“So there’s something about what your backpack was made of, maybe?” Kari asked. “And your boots, too. Do you think my clothes would be an issue?”

“Yes,” he said immediately. “My pack was made with metal hoops for attaching to things, and my boots had buckles. Those were the bits which didn’t survive the trip, though the contents of my pack merely fell out and away from me.”

“What did you walk on?” Kari asked, abruptly aware that she didn’t know a blessed thing about that …place?

He sighed again, heavily, before turning away from the painful colours.

“I think I will need to explain a great deal before we can cross back through,” he said. “May I please come to your home?”

Kari debated refusing for all of half a second – he had no money, no-one else to go to, and it was getting late. She nodded, though he didn’t seem to register it as assent.

“Yes,” she said. “Let’s get back to my car and I’ll take you home so we can prepare for this thing.”


End file.
